Northern Territory shopper chucks pot plants out the front of a Woolworths  

Customers at a Northern Territory shopping center got much more than they bargained for when a man suddenly began smashing potted plants to the ground.

The shocking incident, which occurred outside a Woolworths in Darwin, was caught on camera and posted to the ‘straya’ section of the Reddit website on Monday.

Even more shocking was that no one tried to physically stop him: they either ignored what was happening or just walked away.

The video opened with the man dropping a pot on the ground, already strewn with other broken pots, and yelling insults, as shoppers moved quickly out of harm’s way.

There were already at least three other broken pots, dirt and plants on the floor of the mall.

While some people told the man to stop, no one tried to intervene, so he did it again.

The man picked up another potted plant and threw it violently to the ground as those who had tried to stop him walked away, having given up.

A tradie with a child in his arms is seen casually leaving the shop and walking away from the ruckus as if this is not an unusual sight in Darwin.

A man on a scooter made his way through the mess on the floor, but he seemed in no particular hurry to get away from the chaos that surrounded him.

Finally, a security man from the store appeared and the pan-breaker slowly walked away.

However, as it seemed at first, he was not heading for the exit.

The vandal was going to where more pots were kept next to a window that overlooked the street.

At that point, the security guard caught up with him and forced him out of the mall, apparently not bothering to call the police about what had happened.

The tradie proved popular in comments to the video, one of which read: “As a non-Australian citizen, I’m delighted to see the classic tradie strutting around in high visibility cargo shorts and work boots.”

Finally, a store security man showed up and the pot breaker was escorted to the door (pictured)

Another compared the situation to another town in the Northern Territory, saying: “That’s nothing compared to what’s going on in Alice from what I hear.”

One poster also compared it to the city of Cairns in far north Queensland.

This kind of thing and much worse things happen every day in Cairns, and nobody ever says or does anything.

‘As long as dogma prevails over common sense, this is what we get,’ they said.

Another sign said that what the video showed is now common in the territory.

‘This is a normal Occurrence in the NT,’ they said. ‘It’s crazy.

‘The place was a gem in the middle of the outback until law and order was thrown out. Now the place is a war zone.